Against the
Execrable Bull of the Antichrist (excerpt)

I
have heard that a bull against me has gone through the whole earth
before it
came to me, because being a daughter of darkness it feared the light of
my face.
For this reason and also because it condemns manifestly the Christian
articles I
had my doubts whether it really came from Rome and was not rather the
progeny of
that man of lies, dissimulation, errors, and heresy, that monster John
Eck. The
suspicion was further increased when it was said that Eck was the
apostle of
the bull. Indeed the sty1e and the spittle all point to Eck. True, it
is not
impossible that where Eck is the apostle there one should find the
kingdom of
Antichrist. Nevertheless in the meantime I will act as if I thought Leo
not
responsible, not that I may honor the Roman name, but because I do not
consider
myself worthy to suffer such high things for the truth of God. For who
before
God would be happier than Luther if he were condemned from so great and
high a
source for such manifest truth? But the cause seeks a worthier martyr.
I with my
sins merit other things. But whoever wrote this bull, he is Antichrist.
I protest
before God, our Lord Jesus, his sacred angels, and the
whole world that with my whole heart I dissent from the damnation of
this bull,
that I curse and execrate it as sacrilege and blasphemy of Christ,
God's Son
and our Lord. This be my recantation, Oh bull, thou daughter of bulls.

Having
given my testimony I proceed to take up the bull. Peter said that you
should
give a reason for the faith that is in you, but this bull condemns me
from its
own word without any proof from Scripture, whereas I back up all my
assertions
from the Bible. I ask thee, ignorant Antichrist, dost thou think that
with thy
naked words thou canst prevail against the armor of Scripture? Hast
thou
learned this from Cologne and Louvain? If this is all it takes, just to
say, “I
dissent, I deny," what foo1, what ass, what mole, what log could not
condemn? Does not thy meretricious brow blush that with thine inane
smoke thou
withstandest the lightning of the divine Word? Why do we not believe
the Turks?
Why do we not admit the Jews? Why do we not honor the heretic if
damning is all
that it takes? But Luther, who is used to bellum,
is not afraid of bullam . I can
distinguish between inane paper and the omnipotent Word of God.

They
show their ignorance and bad conscience by inventing the adverb
"respectively.”
My articles are called
"respectively some heretical, some erroneous, some scandalous," which
is as much as to say, “We don't know which are which.” 0h meticulous
ignorance!
I wish to be instructed, not respectively, but absolutely and
certainly. I
demand that they show absolutely, not respectively, distinctly and not
confusedly, certainly and not probably, clearly and not obscurely,
point by
point and not in a lump, just what is heretical. Let them show where I
am a
heretic, or dry up their spittle. They say that some articles are
heretical, some
erroneous, some scandalous, some offensive. The implication is that
those which
are heretical are not erroneous, those which are erroneous are not
scandalous,
and those which are scandalous are not offensive. What then is this, to
say
that something is not heretica1, not scandalous, not false, but yet is
offensive?
So then, you impious and insensate papists, write soberly if you want
to write.
Whether this bull is by Eck or by the pope, it is the sum of all
impiety,
blasphemy, ignorance, impudence, hypocrisy, lying – in a word, it is
Satan and
his Antichrist.

Where
are you now, most excellent Charles the Emperor, kings, and Christian
princes?
You were baptized into the name of Christ, and can you suffer these
Tartar
voices of Antichrist? Where are you, bishops? Where, doctors? Where are
you who
confess Christ? Woe to all who live in these times. The
wrath of God is coming upon the papists,
the enemies Of
the cross of Christ,that all men should resist them. You
then, Leo X, you cardinals
and the rest of you at Rome, I tell you to your faces: "If this bull
has
come out in your name, then I will use the power which has been given
me in
baptism whereby I became a son of God and co-heir with Christ,
established upon
the rock against which the gates of hell cannot prevail. I call upon
you to
renounce your diabolical blasphemy and audacious impiety, and, if you
will not,
we shall all hold your seat as possessed and oppressed by Satan, the
damned
seat of Antichrist; in the name of Jesus Christ, whom you persecute.
But my
zea1 carries me away. I am not yet persuaded that the bull is by the
pope but
rather by that apostle of impiety, John Eck....

If
anyone despises my fraternal warning, I am free from his blood in the
last
judgment. It is better that I should die a thousand times than that I
should
retract one syllable of the condemned articles. And as they
excommunicated me
for the sacrilege of heresy, so I excommunicate them in the name of the
sacred
truth of God. Christ will judge whose excommunication will stand. Amen.